Personnel

CREW



2nd Lt Martin D.Rupert        P   KIA  19/5/44  (On  WALLof THE MISSING)  TARGET WAS BERLIN

F/O Bertram D.Lobdell        CP  CPT 25/9/44 LUDWIGSHAFEN, MY

2nd Lt Greek R.James,Jr. NAV  KIA   19/5/44 (On WALL OF THE MISSING)

2nd Lt Lynn H.Barbour    BOM  POW 19/5/44 see below

S/Sgt Ralph G.Hawk        ROG  KIA 19/5/44 (On WALL OF THE MISSING)

S/Sgt Herbert H.Cole      TTE  KIA 19/5/44 (On WALL OF THE MISSING)

S/Sgt Cecil J.McNeer       BTG  KIA 19/5/44 (On WALL OF THE MISSING)

  Sgt Charles L.Haswell    LWG  KIA   19/5/44

  Sgt Thomas E.Hick       RWG  KIA 19/5/44

  Sgt William P.Hohman     TG  KIA 19/5/44 ( On WALL OF THE MISSING)



350th Sqdn. Crew as above, joined the 100th Group on 12/4/44. MACR #4947, Micro fiche #4947 A/C B 17G 42 38191.



On 19/5/44, a 1st Lt John J.Raring was flying as CP and was KIA (He is on WALL OF THE MISSING)



A/C #191 was shot down by E/A on their first pass through the formation at 1518 hours. it went down under control circling to the right. Six chutes came out as a/c went down. When last seen all props were turning and there was no smoke coming from the a/c. The crash was seen by some fishermen from Rodbyhavn,and they went to the crash point and picked up Lt.Barbour, but despite intense search in the area no other survivors llere found. 



Body of S/Sgt Hick was found at sea near Vejlo Island in Nakskov Fjord on 24/7/44 and he was buried at Sandby 

Cemetary. Body of Haswell  & Hicks was found at sea 12 km W of Rodbyhavn on 22/7/44 They were buried in Rodby Cemetary. In 1948 S/Sgt Hick's remains were exhumed and returned to U.S.A. S/Sgt Haswell is still resting in the Rodby Cemetary.



Statement by Lt. Lynn Barbour "At the time of the first attack fire was started by enemy action, near the forward escape hatch. I immediately tried to extinguish it. In moving from my position; in the nose of the ship to the location of the fire, my inter phone & oxygen system were disconnected, therefore I was not in communication with the other members  of the crew from the time the attack started until I bailed out.  As we were immediately put  out of action, and the plane was out of control, there was no time to re-establish inter-phone communications.  Not certain whether the crew had been notified to abandon ship, I shouted at the navigator to ascertain that fact and he did so. The plane being out of control and pilotless we had no choice but to bail out.



 In your investigation as to the fate of my crew members, I suggest you contact Mr. James MacDougall, Nakskov Hospital, Nakskov, Denmark. He did, and should still be able to contact fishermen who rescued me from the Baltic Sea. I believe I was docked by these fishermen at a small town named Rodby, which is a small fishing village, believed to be East of the town of  Nakskov on the Island of Lloland. I am not certain this is the correct name of the village, but this could be definitely ascertained from Mr. MacDougall, mentioned above.

 Mr. MacDougall could also put you in touch with a Doctor from this village who attended me at the dock. When rescued from the sea I was unable to make the fishermen understand that there were other crew in the area, due to my own mental and physical incapacity from injuries and exposure and also due to the language difficulties. None of the fishermen could speak or understand English. Upon reaching land, I was able to contact a person who spoke English. When the situation was described to him he promised to send the boats to conduct a search for the other crew members. I personally believe this was not done and also further believe that if such a search had been conducted other members of the crew would definitely have been found alive or their bodies would have been found floating with the support of their Mae West life vests.

 I was a patient at Nakskov Hospital for a period of three months, and during this time, upon repeated inquiries, I never received definite confirmation other boats were sent out. All inquires were instituted through Mr, MacDongall, who is the son of Dr. MacDongall, Head of the Nakskov Hospital, Nakskov City, Island of Lloland, Denmark."

        Signed:  Lynn H. Barbour

        1st Lt. A.C. O-761287



Items found on the body of Sgt Hick, which washed ashore on 24 Jul 1944 :

 1 Plain finger ring

 1 Bracelet with plate engrave (Thomas E. Hicks and Caroline V. Barth)

 1 Chain with I.D. tag

 8 Photos

 1 Box of pills

 1 Rubber bag

 1 Dictionary in cellophane.



Barbour goes on to relate he was rescued from the sea by Danish fisherman and taken to the small town of Rodby, just east of Nakskow, Denmark on the island of Lioland. He attempted unsuccessfully to get the point across that others of his crew must be in the sea and a search should be conducted. Barbour says he was a patient at Nakskov hospital for three months.



Kirkeby, 2001.11.18 

Hi Michael, 

It is good to hear from you. Here in Denmark it is a grey, rainy and dark period, but until now only few nights with frost. 

I am very busy in my 8th AF registration for the moment. Have collected much material about the BG. Working on several cases. 

Next weekend I will go to the crashsite of B-17 # 42-30289, The Dull Tool from 390th BG. The aircraft crashed in a forest not far from my home. My father saw the bale out and later the crash on 4 Jan 1944. I have collected about 250 pages of documents about this aircraft and crew. Have received a special permission to do a little research and locate by detector and GPS the exactly position of crashsite, by the owner of the forest, a count. 

By your help, we finally came in contact with 2nd Lt Lynn H. Barbour from # 42-38191, 100th BG, Rupert crew, lost near Danish coast on 19 May 44. 

I had some conversations on e-mail with his daughter, and we thereafter mailed by post some photos and his keys, with an enclosed letter for him. 

But we have never received any response about the receipt. It seems like we have lost the contact. Do you know about his health. Is he and the daughter okay? 

2nd Lt Barbour was treated well at Nakskov Hospital. The 2 nurses took very good care of him. One of the nurses has taken some photos. Another photo of Barbour was found in a uniform pocket. Further he wrote in a poesy book together with S/Sgt Earl F. Green from # 42-32070, 452nd BG, crashed on 9 Apr 1944 on the island of Nakskov, Lolland. Green was wounded in the leg. 

The nurse who took the photos. Tove Jorgensen, died 22 May 1988, but the other nurse, who has the poesy book, Ruth Bergstrom is alive. It was a matter about to keep the wounded airmen at the hospital so long time as possible. The doctor said to the Germans, they were not healthy enough to go into german prison camps. Denmark was occupied from 1940 - 1945. 

Maybe you know, but Charles L. Haswell from Barbours plane is still buried in the area, His gravestone can be found at the cemetery of Rodby. If you are interested, I will later scan a photo of his grave. 

I will enclose 5 photos. You are welcome to use them and the informations mentioned above. 

If you should find other informations (than the informations already mentioned on your website) about # 42-37790, crashed here on my island 20 Feb 1944, I am interested to hear about it. I have tried to find out how T/Sgt Ira G. Evans succeded to evade to Sweden. 

Many greetings from Denmark, 

Finn Buch 

finn.buch@get2net.dk

At least 6 men bailed out of this aircraft, however Barbour was the only one rescued by fishermen.  He was the only survivor